1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly relates to an image forming system having a sheet processing device which performs glue-binding, and to a control method, a recording medium, and a program of the same, and so forth.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital multi-function apparatuses having binding printing (pamphlet printing) capabilities using imposition functions with digital image processing have been realized, and now, sheet processing devices which perform saddle-stitching in the process of pamphlet printing are being proposed.
Although the extent of processing which can be realized with such sheet processing devices having saddle-stitching functions is limited to simple bookbinding processing at the present, it is likely that in the future, there will be demand for bookbinding processing at a much higher level, such as glue-binding wherein the printed articles are glued, i.e., demand for bookbinding much closer to professional bookbinding. An example of a proposal being considered for such glue-binding can be seen in the configuration of the glue-binding device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-293060.
Such glue-binding devices may conceivably be as large as a digital multi-function apparatus, or even larger. This could lead to such glue-binding devices being expensive as well as taking up a large office space footprint. This would mean that most corporations would not be able to introduce these devices to the office environment without creating dedicated space, such as a copier room.
Accordingly, reducing the size of the glue-binding devices is being considered. Realization of reduction in the size of the glue-binding devices would mean reduced costs and a smaller footprint, so corporations would be able to replace currently-used devices with these devices, even without dedicated space.
However, attempts to reduce the size of glue-binding devices may come across the following restrictive issues.    (1) Binding of large-size sheets (A3 and B4) not being available.    (2) The number of sheets which can be glued at once being restricted.    (3) The number of sheets which can be glued at once changing depending on the type of sheets. For example, thicker sheets would mean that the number of sheets which can be glued would be reduced accordingly.
Observing the current marketplace, the demand for small-size (A4, US letter, or smaller) bookbinding is overwhelmingly greater than that for large-size (A3 and B4) bookbinding, so it would seem that needs for large-size bookbinding are negligible. On the other hand, most digital multi-function apparatuses are capable of printing large-size sheets. Now, let us say that an image forming apparatus or image forming system such as a digital multi-function apparatus was realized with glue-binding functions, but that the glue-binding functions were available only for small-size sheets, in accordance with (1) above. It is conceivable that there would be users who would assume that the glue-binding functions are available for large-size sheets, as well. Such misconceptions of users could lead to situations wherein the user plans a large-size bound article, creates the pages, and prints the pages, only to find that the command for glue-binding of the sheets is not available or ends in an error, wasting the user's time and resources.
The same can be said with regard to (2) and (3) wherein the number of sheets are limited. A user could attempt to create a bound article without correct understanding of the restrictions on the number of sheets, and the excessive number of sheets could result in trouble in binding, wasting the user's time and resources.
Further, in the case of the user attempting to use heavier sheets (issue (3) listed above), the restriction on the number of sheets differs according to how heavy the sheets are, meaning that it is difficult for the user to grasp the concept of how many sheets can be bound for which weight paper. This could also result in trouble in binding, wasting the user's time and resources.
Summarizing the above, the user of such a device would need to have extensive knowledge of the specifications of the device to avoid such trouble from occurring frequently, meaning that the device is not user-friendly at all.
As described so far, there are problems that must be solved in order to provide a product such as the image-forming device of a digital multi-function apparatus or the like, or an image forming system having the same, having capabilities of a gluing process, in a form which is non-problematic to the user.
Other problems to be studied, besides those listed above, potentially exist. For example, the product to be provided to the user should be capable of handling various bookbinding demands made by the users, such as users demanding a wide and varied range of output formats for the gluing-binding printing capabilities.
In light of this, the device or system to be provided should be capable of handling a wide variety of user needs regarding glue-binding for example, and should also be user-friendly and highly advantageous to the user. Thus, it can be said that there is still much study to be undertaken before realizing products such as an image-forming device of a digital multi-function apparatus or the like, or an image forming system having the same, having gluing process capabilities.